# Republican Democrat Conservative Liberal **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 24, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-democrat-conservative-liberal/313928 "2005-07-24T16:02:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-democrat-conservative-liberal/313928/1 "2005-07-24T16:02:06Z")
Even though I probably don’t need to say it, I’ll be safe and say that I’m talking about American politics here. I’ve heard what the differences between Republican and Conservative are, and what the differences between Democrat and Liberal are. Yet, whenever I listen to political commentary, Republican and Conservative are almost used as synonyms, and the same is true with Democrat and Liberal. The line between each, is usually blurred. So, to help un-blur it, please tell me what differences, real or hypothetical, there are between Conservative Republicans, Conservative Democrats, Liberal Republicans, and Liberal Democrats. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-democrat-conservative-liberal/313928/2 "2005-07-24T16:23:47Z")
Republicans suck. Democrats blow.\* Anything else I can help you with? \*With apologizes to Lewis Black. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-democrat-conservative-liberal/313928/3 "2005-07-24T16:29:44Z")
I don’t know which I hate worse, posting a thread and getting no replies, or posting a thread and getting only smart ass replies. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-democrat-conservative-liberal/313928/4 "2005-07-24T16:53:20Z")
What makes it even more complex is that “conservative” or “liberal” could mean socially or it could mean fiscally. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-democrat-conservative-liberal/313928/5 "2005-07-24T17:02:15Z")
Republicans and Democrats have relatively precise meanings; they’re political parties which people register for. Conservative and Liberal, on the other hand, are idealogical stands and are more tenuous. (Although, to confuse the issue, there are also Conservative and Liberal political parties.) So these terms are usually either self-professed or used as a label by someone else. There are also Moderates who fall between the two ends of the idealogical spectrum. Generally speaking, Conservatives tend to be Republicans and Liberals tend to be Democrats. Because of this a Moderate Republican will often be called a Liberal Republican and a Moderate Democrat will often be called a Conservative Democrat. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-democrat-conservative-liberal/313928/6 "2005-07-24T18:20:33Z")
There used to be conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans, but these are vanishing breeds now that American politics has become so viciously polarized. Sometimes you wanna shake everybody and go “Dudes! We’ve got a _real country_ here, with _real problems_! Stop playing ‘gotcha’ and start working on them!!” :mad: ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-democrat-conservative-liberal/313928/7 "2005-07-24T22:26:37Z")
> [@Larry Borgia](#): > > There used to be conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans, but these are vanishing breeds now that American politics has become so viciously polarized. Sometimes you wanna shake everybody and go “Dudes! We’ve got a _real country_ here, with _real problems_! Stop playing ‘gotcha’ and start working on them!!” :mad: Oh, I dunno- there are still quite a lot of liberal Republicans (Specter, Chafee, Snow, Collins). It’s conservative Democrats that are in mighty short supply. Once you het past Zell Miller, what is there?